Polish-Americans in the United States comprise a voter group sought after by both the Democratic and Republican parties as they have a bellwether status. Polish Americans comprise 3.2% of the United States population. The Polish-American population is concentrated in several Midwestern swing states that make issues important to Polish-Americans more likely to be heard by presidential candidates. According to John Kromkowski, a Catholic University professor of political science, Polish-Americans make up an "almost archetypical swing vote". The Piast Institute found that Polish Americans are 36% Democrats, 33% Independents, and 26% are Republicans as of 2008. Ideologically, they were categorized as being in the more conservative wing of the Democratic Party, and demonstrated a much stronger inclination for third-party candidates in presidential elections than the American public. Voting Historically, Polish-American voters have swung from the Democratic and Republican parties depending on economic and social politics. In the 1916 election, Woodrow Wilson courted Poles through his promises of Polish autonomy. Upon his death and the failures of the proposed League of Nations, Polish-Americans shifted Republican, voting for Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover because of their frustration with Wilson and the weakness of the nascent Polish state. The Democratic Party won over Polonia during the New Deal Coalition forged by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and gained strong support for the war effort by Polish-Americans who were fiercely against Nazi Germany. FDR consistently won over 90% of the Polish vote during his four terms. Polish-Americans founded the Polish American Congress (PAC) in 1944 to create strong leadership and represent Polish interests during World War II. FDR met with the PAC and assured Poles of a peaceful and independent Poland following the war. When this did not come to fruition, and with the publication of Arthur Bliss Lane's I Saw Poland Betrayed in 1947, Polish-Americans came to feel that they had been betrayed by the United States government. John F. Kennedy won a majority of the Polish vote in 1960, owing in part to his Catholicism and connection to ethnic communities and the labor movement. Since then, Polish voters have been tied to the more conservative wing of the Democratic Party, but shifted away from the Democrats over social issues such as abortion. Poland's liberation from Soviet occupation during the 1980s was championed to Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, but Bill Clinton seized Polish voters through his expansion of NATO.
In modern politics, the Polish-American vote continues to have influence in the United States. Polish Americans comprise 3.2% of the United States population, but were estimated at nearly 10% of the overall electorate as of 2012. The Polish-American population is concentrated in several Midwestern swing states that make issues important to Polish-Americans more likely to be heard by presidential candidates.
History Polish-Americans entered the United States in relatively large numbers before 1914, and during this time many were mostly apolitical. Only during the 1920s as a result of Woodrow Wilson's policies did America's Polonia turn to the Democratic Party with strong allegiance; the allegiance to the Democratic Party was strengthened by the candidacy of Al Smith, a Catholic politician, and FDR's labor reforms.
American colonies
The first Americans of Polish extraction originated in 1608, when Captain John Smith brought a handful to Virginia for their expertise in glass production, pitch, tar, soap making, and ship construction. After they went on strike demanding the right to vote they were allowed to vote.James S. Pula "Fact vs. Fiction: What Do We Really Know About The Polish Presence In Early Jamestown?" The Polish Review (2008). 53 (4): 477–493.
Polish-Americans and World War I
Polish-Americans were highly mobilized by the prospect of defeating Germany during World War I and achieving independence. During 1914 to 1918, Polish immigration to the United States came to a halt, and many Polish-Americans joined the United States army to fight for their homeland. Polish diplomat Ignacy Paderewski came to the United States in 1913 to motivate Polish-Americans to fight in the U.S. Army. The recruitment effort generated at least 28,000 volunteers from the United States. Many of the volunteers were organized by the Polish Falcons, a fraternal Polish-American group within the United States since 1887. The American Poles were sent to Niagara on the Lake and Fort Niagara for military training before being sent to France for battle. They fought in a separate regiment under the leadership of General Józef Haller, and were also known as Haller's Army. Of the Polish-American war effort, Newton D. Baker, the U.S. Secretary of War, said "their presence on the Western front represents both their adherence to America as the country of their adoption, and to Poland, free and self-governing, as the country of their inspiring sight." The Army saw its first action in June 1918 near Reims and their transportation to France and back to the United States was funded by the French government. The majority of Poles moved back to the United States, but a small constituency remained in Europe.
As a result of Poland's independence following World War I, American Poles became more conscious of their heritage and developed stronger connection to their nation.Alice Boberg and Ralph Wroblewski, p. 112 Previously, Poland had been under domination by Germany, Prussia, Austria-Hungary and Russia, without its independence since 1792. Polish-Americans grew highly patriotic towards the United States during World War I, and turned to Woodrow Wilson with a strong 74% of the vote in 1916 for his support of Polish independence. A similar ethnic experience occurred for other Slavic immigrants in the United States during World War I, particularly Czech and Slovak, when the Pittsburgh Agreement was drafted with backing from the Allies.
World War I and Polish autonomy (1916–1928)
During and after World War I, Americans of Polish descent were concerned about the future autonomy of Poland. In the years after World War I, Poland was a very weak and fragmented state surrounded by strong superpowers. Woodrow Wilson supported the Poles and helped them achieve a fully independent state that won—for the first time in centuries—in ongoing territorial disputes with Germany. Wilson listed Poland in his "Fourteen Points" speech and had Germany cede territorial control to Poland in Upper Silesia and Danzig. After World War I, Poland was an independent state with access to the Baltic Sea. Wilson's friendly policy toward Poland was due in large part to his close personal friendship with Ignacy Jan Paderewski, who spoke frequently to Polish-American social clubs. For his support, Wilson was awarded the Order of the White Eagle by the Polish government and his death was declared a day of national mourning. However, Polish-Americans grew concerned by Germany's strength and future military capability, and demonstrators met with President Woodrow Wilson's secretary, Joseph P. Tumulty (at right) urging the Wilson administration to help Poland maintain peace against a strengthening Germany. Tumulty reported on multiple demonstrations against Germany's militaristic aggression against Poland, as well as other eastern European nations. In telegrams, Tumulty also indicated unpopularity of terms of the Treaty and the League, and said the Republican Party could take disaffected voters, such as the Poles, by opposing the League of Nations.
After Woodrow Wilson, Polish voters swung Republican starting in 1920, like many ethnics who supported Warren Harding. Poles were upset with the borders set up by the Treaty of Versailles, as were the Germans, Italian, Czech, and Irish ethnics in the United States. Poles were also frustrated by the Little Treaty of Versailles, which was signed at the same time as the official Treaty of Versailles. The "little treaty" placed on Poland's independence a contingent minority clause, stated as: "Poland accepts ... provisions ... to protect the interests of inhabitants of Poland who differ from the majority of the population in race, language, or religion". The new Polish nation, which contained many Russians, Ukrainians, Jews, and Germans, was made especially weak by the clause granting these groups a protected class distinction in Poland.Kantowicz, p. 118 Ethnic strife with the Ukrainians and Russians were made very tense as the result of ongoing wars, including the Polish–Ukrainian War and the Polish–Soviet War. The Treaty provided minority safeguards to Jewish Poles, and Wilson sent Henry Morgenthau, Sr. and other Jewish-American diplomats to Poland to defend Jews against any anti-semitism. These 1919 investigations were called "humiliating invasions upon the internal affairs of Poland through the granting of privileges for the Jews" by the Polish National Alliance. Poles felt that the new nation was held to a double standard, as their national minorities were protected by the League of Nations, whereas Polish minorities in Germany or Russia did not experience corresponding protections, despite continuous ethnic strife. Dziennik Zwiazkowy, a Polish-American newspaper, endorsed Harding, who campaigned as being against the League of Nations, as "the next in a line of great and wise [Republican] presidents." The postwar economy suffered from double digit unemployment and 15% inflation, and a rise in violence and labor protests served as a rebuke of the Democratic Party. Harding's argument that this poor economic situation was the "new normalcy" under Democratic administrations attracted many urban voters, including Chicago Poles.Kantowicz, p. 117
Relief effort and Herbert Hoover (1928) Polish-Americans generally were predisposed to Democratic candidates because of their economic status in the United States, but they gave their overwhelming appreciation to Republican President Herbert Hoover in 1928 unlike any other ethnic community. Hoover had served in the American Relief Association during the Wilson administration, and his support in aiding starving Polish children following World War I was not forgotten. The Republican National Committee produced pamphlets and made his humanitarian efforts a part of Herbert's presidential campaign. Polish-American support for him was very high in his election–65%. Polish support for Hoover was entirely different from other ethnic Americans; Smith won 82% of the Irish, 77% of the Italian, and 73% of the German vote. Smith was a Catholic from an immigrant family of New York, and fought against prohibition, making him a candidate Poles identified with on many levels. Prohibition was seen as a form of nativist intolerance towards immigrants such as the Poles, and Smith's stance won him over 80% of the vote in Polish neighborhoods of Chicago.
In Buffalo, New York in 1936, Polish-Americans formed the "Ecpole" party, a portmanteau of "Erie County" and "Pole," after failing to earn "major patronage" from the mainstream New York State Democratic Party. They ran candidates unsuccessfully in several local and Congressional elections.
World War II and the Polish-American Congress
President Franklin D. Roosevelt took measures to defeat his Republican opponent in 1940, Wendell Willkie, by means of the Polish-American vote. FDR asked the FBI to do an investigation on Willkie to find out his ancestry. J. Edgar Hoover was entrusted by Roosevelt to lead the investigation, but refused to do so. An investigation would have been launched with the intention of finding out if Willkie's rumored Polish ancestry were true, as a change in surname from a Polish one to Willkie would have created a fallout of support from Polish-American voters.